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Thursday, June 15, 2006

World Cup 2006 England 2 - T&T 0

Bloody Hell.Talk about making it hard on ourselves. They just didn't seem interested in the first half, no-one was moving that well, no-one seemed on form at all.Then, like a talisman (albeit one who looks like a Muppet), Rooney comes on and the entire team seems to improve.Nice to see Crouch get the goal as well. Gerrard's second was great, nice to see him finally find the shooting boots maybe Lampard will follow suit next match?

All in all, terrifying. ITV were their usual doom-laden selves. Listening to Gareth Southgate drone on about how we could be going out if we drew and Sweden won their last two and T&T beat Paraguay was horrendous. Partly for the deadpan delivery and total boredom he generates (Good luck Middlesboro with him as your motivational speaker!) but mostly because at 80 minutes it seemed like a real possibility.

I know we always seem to play better football in the knock out stages but this is just terrifying.

Positives:Lennon - looked fantastic zipping past defenders down that right wing, good link up with Beckham as well.Downing - a lot better than against Jamaica.Terry & Ferdinand - apart from that goal-line clearance they looked in great form.Rooney - much as I hate to say it (just don't like him at all) he gave a huge boost to the team and seemed completely healed.